Wars Amongst the Stars: Rebellion: Vol. 2

Chapter Forty-Two

What started out as a simple planetary inspection soon grew to be very dangerous when two Inquisitors appeared from the sky. Ezra and Kanan had taken on Fifth Brother, while Keen and Leia, with the borrowed lightsaber, took on the Seventh Sister.

"I'm thinking this planet's not gonna work out as a base after all," Ezra jokes, clearly trying to clear some of the tension from the air.

Keen ducks under the Inquisitor's lightsaber, and it swipes through the air, where moments earlier her neck had been.  "Well, seeing as the key part of secret base, is that it's location remains secret, no, no it will not work, like, at all."

Kanan barely holds back a laugh, as he calls out to his Padawan, "Where's Chopper?"

Instead of Ezra responding, as he was expecting, Leia, who is deeply concentrating on not dying, says, "I signalled him. He's either lost, or he's ignoring us."

Keen watches her Padawan fight, trusting her senses to guide her in her battle, making a mental note to give the Princess more lightsaber training, and maybe a blaster. Kanan, upon hearing what Leia said, grunts, "Oh, he's not lost."

"So, he's ignoring us then. Remind me why we brought him?"

"Someone has to fly the ship," Ezra reminds the Jedi Master.

"Ah, right." There's a break in the conversations, as the Inquisitors increase on their attack. Seeing a chance, Keen shouts out, "Cross!"

The Knight and his Padawan move, now fighting the Seventh Sister, while Keen and Leia attack Fifth Brother. He growls, as he launches himself at the clearly untrained Princess. Ari'abel quickly steps in front of her, blocking the strike. "And here I was thinking we were finally rid of you," he snarls.

"Oh, come on now. You didn't seriously think handing me over to the Empire would kill me did you? You must've realized by now, Fifth Brother, it takes a lot more power than what Vader possesses. And if Darth Vader can't off me, what chance do you have?" She feigns cockiness, knowing deep down that she was completely at Vader's mercy, and the only thing that kept her alive was the tiny shimmer of Anakin Skywalker, deep down inside the mind of the deranged Sith Lord.

Her mind completely on the battle in front of her, most of her energy being extended to protect Leia, she almost misses the conversation going on with Seventh Sister, who is trying to flirt with the Jedi Knight. Kanan, ever the wordsmith, looks her straight in the eyes, and says, "I don't go for crazy" he hesitates a few seconds, before adding, "anymore."

Master Quinara laughs at that, "You really had to add that last bit, eh, Kanan?" she inquires, flipping smoothly to Fifth Brother's other side.

"Just shut up would you. Trying to concentrate here."

"Oh?" she asks, parrying the forceful shove of a lightsaber to her face, "Am I distracting you from your new girlfriend? Do forgive me, I know that three's a crowd."

Ezra doesn't miss a beat, while Seventh Sister releases a probe droid onto Kanan's head, he calls out, "If three's a crowd, what does six make?"

"An orgy."

Fifth Brother snorts, and then glares at the Jedi Master. She cracks a smile at the glare, "So, he does have a sense of humour, who knew your mind was such a dirty place, pervert."

Ezra easily shoots the probe off Kanan's head, but gets thrown to the cliff edge in the process. He shouts for his Master, who quickly grabs his arms.

Seventh Sister starts to approach the duo in the perilous situation, seemingly forgetting the other Padawan. Keen gives a small hand signal, while lunging at the Inquisitor. Leia immediately runs at the Inquisitor, blocking Seventh Sister from attacking Kanan, giving him the chance to pull his Padawan back up to solid ground. Kanan scoops his hilt from where he had set it on the ground, turning to assist Leia in her fight. Ezra whips his saber out, dashing over to Ari'abel. He slashes at Fifth Brother's blade opposite the one he is attacking Keen with. The Inquisitor begins to spin it very quickly, the blade slashing Ezra's arm, very badly. He lets out a scream of pain, which causes Kanan to turn and look at them. Keen quickly disignites her sabers, shoving both Inquisitors back, away from the cliff face, and the Padawan. Leia looks at the cliff face, and calls to her Master, "I think I've got us a ride." She gestures to the cliff with her chin.

"Alright," She nods at her, "Kanan, grab Ezra, and get ready to jump."

"Jump? You're crazy!" Yet, as he shouts at both Jedi Master, and her Padawan, he wraps an arm around Ezra's shoulder, racing for the edge of the crevasse.

"Now!" Leia calls to the others, and jumps off the cliff, Keen is right beside her. Kanan, with Ezra in tow, leaps just behind them.

The group of four land directly on the back of a Tibidee, Ezra grunting in pain. Keen scoots over to Ezra, while Kanan turns incredulously to Leia, and asks, "This was you?"

"Yep. Pretty neat, huh?"

"You're getting there, kiddo," Keen replies, while gently raising Ezra's arm. The boy hisses in pain, glaring at the Jedi Master. "Calm down, Ezzie. It's not like you lost your whole arm. You'll be fine."

"It hurts. A lot!" the boy protests, trying to keep the hot tears threatening to leak from his eyes at bay.

"Well, no kriff kid. I'll heal you once we get to the Phantom."

Just then, the Phantom, with Chopper in the pilot's seat, flies directly in front of the Tibidee. He opens the ramp, and grumbles at the quartet. Kanan looks over at Keen, and Ezra, "After you."

The Jedi Master carefully lifts the boy, jumping from the Tibidee into the hold of the Phantom. She gently lays him on the bench, as Kanan and Leia enter the ship. Keen closes her eyes, focusing on the burns on Ezra's arm. She can sense the intense pain he's feeling, and feeds him a calming effect. She turns her focus from the boy's pain, to the wound covering his limb. Keen focuses solely on seeing the skin knit back together, and lose the angry blistering skin. She can sense him healing, the pain he's feeling greatly decreasing in the process. Once she's certain that his arm is fully healed, she pulls her hand back, dropping it to her side.

Sliding her mask off her face, she's met with a look of awe from both Padawan's. "What?"

"When you said you could heal," Ezra starts, looking at his arm, "I didn't think it would be this complete, or this quick."

"I forgot you've never seen anyone be healed by the Force," Keen states, dropping onto the bench beside Ezra. She gently rests her head into her palm, balancing her elbow onto her knee.

"It's really impressive, Master,"

Ari'abel doesn't respond, which prompts Kanan to turn and look at her. "Is she asleep?"

"Healing takes a lot of energy," Leia states matter-of-factly.

Ezra looks at Kanan, as a thought strikes his head, "Hey, Kanan, what's an orgy?"

He grumbles something under his breath, "Why don't you ask Keen when she wakes up?"

"Okay," he shrugs. "That was a close one, wasn't it?" Ezra adds, dropping his feet to the floor.

Kanan accepts the change of subject. "Yeah, another close one," he grumbles.

"What's wrong?" Leia asks, turning to look at the Knight.

He collapses into the pilot's seat, turning it around quickly. "Everywhere we go we run into those guys, and I don't like it. If this keeps up, we'll never be able to help the rebels establish a base."

"So what are we gonna do about it?"

"I don't know. But it's endangering the whole squadron. We're gonna need advice on this." With those words, Kanan turns the chair back around, opening up the comm.